Long Wharf in New Haven lights the way for Jane Alexander, Judith Ivey and Denis Arndt in ‘Fireflies’

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The venerable Jane Alexander calls “Fireflies,” Matthew Barber’s new play in its premiere at Long Wharf Theatre, a “godsend.” Yet there’s more to Alexander’s superlative than meets the eye.

Alexander, who officially opens the run Wednesday (previews started a week before), is an artist in transition. Her husband of 42 years, director Ed Sherin, died last May in Nova Scotia, where the couple resided on the province’s scenic south shore. Alexander, on the cusp of her 78th birthday, returns to work for the first time as a widow.

“I haven’t been on stage since ‘The Lady From Debuque’ at the Signature in, I think, 2012,” said Alexander, referring to The Signature Theatre’s production of Edward Albee’s play, which opened in March of that year in New York. “I had to be home with Ed, so I couldn’t do any theater for the past five years.” Alexander worked sporadically in TV during her stage hiatus to “keep her hand in.”

“That doesn’t mean that I was home all the time,” she said. “It’s just that theater takes up a lot more time than television, unless you’re a regular on a series. So, I thought it was time for me to get back on the boards to get back to the life that I knew, as a single woman, and get away from the grieving.”

Among Long Wharf’s present campers happy to once again count Alexander as family is Judith Ivey, who, like Alexander, returns to the Tony Award-winning regional theater after several triumphs. Ivey said that she initially decided against continuing with “Fireflies” after performing in a workshop production on Nantucket.

“I just felt that I needed to be home,” said Ivey, who previously performed in productions of “The Glass Menagerie,” “Shirley Valentine” and “Curse of the Starving Class” at Long Wharf. “But when (Gordon) called and said he had Jane Alexander and Denis Arndt, well, he made me an offer I couldn’t refuse.”

“Fireflies,” which continues through Nov. 5, is an unusual love story of sorts that Barber adapted from Annette Sanford’s 2003 novel, “Eleanor and Abel.” Alexander plays Eleanor Bannister, a retired schoolteacher in one-horse Groverdell, Texas. She knows everyone in town through her classroom and still retains her intimidating, remote presence.

One night, while walking barefoot through the brambles, dressed in her nightgown, she meets drifter-cum-handyman Abel Brown (Denis Arndt). Curiously enough, these disparate souls inexplicably draw each other closely.

Both Alexander and Ivey are highly respected actors who’ve won Tony Awards and have a memorable history at Long Wharf.

Alexander, last seen in Long Wharf’s “Mourning Becomes Electra” during the 2004-05 season, has performed in more than 100 plays, among them “The Great White Hope” (a Tony Award) and Tony-nominated roles in “The Sisters Rosensweig” and “6 RMS RIV VU.” She earned Oscar nominations for her work in “Testament,” “Kramer vs. Kramer,” “All The President’s Men” and “The Great White Hope.”

In 1994, President Clinton appointed Alexander director of the National Endowment for the Arts, where she served for four years. Alexander is also an author, penning “Command Performance: An Actress in the Theatre of Politics,” recounting her days leading the NEA, and “Wild Things, Wild Places: Adventurous Tales of Wildlife and Conservation on Planet Earth,” which reveals her passion and activism as a wildlife conservationist.

Ivey well known to TV viewers

Ivey, like Alexander, never abandoned the stage after success in film and TV. A short list of her 11 Broadway credits includes “Steaming” and “Hurly Burly” (both earning her Tony Awards). TV audiences remember her on “Bloodline,” “White Collar,” “Designing Women” and in several movies.

Curiously enough, “Fireflies” marks their first joint venture.

“I’ve been such a fan of Judy, so I was just thrilled that we were going to be onstage together,” said Alexander. “She’s just remarkable. She has incredible timing. Jane is someone I’ve admired as long as I’ve cared about being an actress. So that’s a dream come true. And Denis and I played husband and wife in an episode of ‘Grey’s Anatomy.’ We sat around the set talking about how we needed to do a play together. It finally happens, even though we’ve only got a few moments together in the play.”

As Alexander earlier mentioned, women’s roles become scarce with age. Barber proved his flare for writing good women’s roles with his play “Enchanted April,” adapted from Elizabeth von Armin’s novel of the same name.

“The opportunities to play a Grace Bodell or Eleanor Bannister are, um…they don’t come around that often,” said Ivey, who has spoken on this subject before. I find it very sad when you watch movies and TV — and the stage seems to be a bit more welcoming — and there are very few women in anything. If you watch, there will be an older guy. There’ll be a father figure, but the mother standing in the background never says anything.

“It’s pretty shameful, given that those are the people who raised our children. Very few fathers can take full credit. And yet we eliminate women from our stories — don’t include them at all. It’s kind of a crusade of mine that I will forever talk about it. I don’t know how much I can do to change it because I’m not a writer. So it crosses my mind, well maybe I should just sit down and write something, and just hand it to somebody who is a writer and say, ‘Fix that!’”

“It’s going to take more women writers to write good women’s roles,” she said. “It’s not that a man can’t. Obviously men have been writing women for decades, for centuries. I think it’s time — now more than ever — when there’s such a generous amount of theater, TV and film going on, and TV series are just endless.”

Alexander called Barber “an excellent writer” who bravely portrays a credible relationship between two mature people without resorting to schtick or cliche.

“How often do you see a play that isn’t sad or mean?” Alexander said. “It’s kind of a joyous piece. I do think the audience is going to enjoy it. It’s not trying to glamorize old people. And it’s not trying to say, ‘Oh, we should be younger!’ It’s just about a relationship. Or, four relationships, really.”

The play’s theme of hope, conjoined with the pleasant company of her unofficial Long Wharf family, put the wind in Alexander’s theatrical sails just when she most needed a lift.

“It’s really what I needed right now,” Alexander said. “And to work with the caliber of people I’m working with. I’m just very happy that this came into my life.”